At the regular council meeting of Jan. 12, Mayor Linda Brown brought forward a motion that council reject their annual wage increase, which is tied to the increased cost of living according to the consumer price index, in light of the financial difficulties many citizens are facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is something I’m looking at because we’ve had a number of decreasing tax revenues in the city, business is suffering, there’s decreasing income all around us, individuals are losing their jobs to COVID, and this is a way to show our support and to recognize those that are having difficulty,” said Mayor Brown.
Mayor Brown did note that the motion would be non-binding, and that it would be up to each individual councillor to make arrangements with their payroll to have the increased remuneration rejected.
Several councillors chimed in in support of the idea, with Councillor Tony Luck believing it was a good way to set an example for solidarity and fiscal responsibility.
“Mayor, I fully support this,” said Luck.
“I think this last year has been rather challenging for businesses and the people in the community, I think moving forward it’s probably going to be more challenging because these things, they don’t happen overnight… there’s going to be some challenges for this council as we look at our budget moving forward, and I think one of the big criticisms of a lot of politicians across the country has been that they’ve been taking their salaries and increases and things along that line, and it’s bothered me… and so I fully support this motion that we suspend our cost of living increase for 2021.”
Councillor Adam Etchart was of a similar mindset.
“I think that if we’re expecting to reduce expenses, we have to look at ourselves first, and find ways to be cost effective and look at what we really need and what we need in town, so I definitely support this.”
The motion was carried by a unanimous vote, with Mayor Brown joking that perhaps the funds saved could be put towards the snow removal program which had been extensively debated earlier in the meeting.
